Tag: books

Review: Sea-Kings of Mars

sea-kings-of-marsSea-Kings of Mars by Leigh Brackett
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My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 1949
Read from: May10 to May 17, 2015

Also titled “The Sword of Rhiannon”, the novella “Sea-Kings of Mars” is from the 1940’s era of classic sci-fi / sword & sorcery pulp novels. I read this as a book club pick, and was looking forward to it as it sounded very similar to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars books from 20 years or more earlier, which I’ve always loved. Unfortunately I was very underwhelmed by the whole thing. The author, Leigh Brackett, is famous for her screenplays, (westerns, noir, and a first take on Star Wars “The Empire Strikes Back”, strangely enough,) but this story can be summed up in one word: meh.
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Rating: The Last Colony

The Last ColonyThe Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War series #3
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: April 17th, 2007
Read from: May 11 to May 13, 2015
Awards: 2008 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel, 2010 Seiun Award for Best Foreign Novel

Rating: The Name of the Wind

Name of the WindThe Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Kingkiller Chronicle series #1
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: March 27th, 2005
Read from: April 21 to May 10, 2015
Awards: 2008 ALA Alex Award, 2007 The Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Review: Startide Rising

Startide Rising - David BrinStartide Rising by David Brin
The Uplift Saga #2
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My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1983
Read from: January 26 to February 2, 2015
Awards: 1984 Hugo Award for Best Novel , 1983 Nebula Award for Best Novel, 1984 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

This Book Won HOW Many Awards?… Why?!

It’s not the first time I have discovered something similar, but this book (which won nearly every award a sci-fi novel could at the time,) pretty much sucked. Which is especially sad because I really liked the first in the series.
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Review: Odd Apocalypse

Odd Apocalypse CoverOdd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz
Odd Thomas series #5
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My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 3 out of 5 stars
First Published: July 31, 2012
Read from: February 19 to February 28, 2015

Could this be the End of the World as We Know It… Again?

“We love a series hero, but a series villain quickly becomes silly as he strives so obviously to shock us. Virtue is imaginative, evil repetitive.” – Odd Apocalypse, Page 23

This quote from Dean Koont’s “Odd Apocalypse” seems very apropos: the story of our virtuous hero Odd Thomas saving the world by stopping evil villains from destroying the world (as we know it) is getting a little repetitive. I think I liked this book of the series the least of all that came before. Which is odd, because the serial “novella” that was released before this book as kind of an appetizer, “Odd Interlude”, was one of my favorites because of both it’s short action-packed pace and a couple of fun, interesting new characters. But this book…
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Review: Small Gods

Small Gods - Terry PratchettSmall Gods by Terry Pratchett
Discworld series #13
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1992
Read from: March 1 to March 19, 2015
 
 
Yet another excellent book that deserves a full review, but I was either too lazy, busy or uninspired at the time.

As always with Pratchett’s work, this book while being funny and amusing, hit me in surprisingly “deep” places. I have literally PAGES of highlighted quotes from this book. Many because they were funny. But far more because they were so honest and True. True with a capital ‘T’.
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Review: Abaddon’s Gate

Abaddon's Gate coverAbaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse series #3
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My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars 3.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 4, 2013
Read from: February 2 to February 12, 2015

Abaddon’s Gate – The End of a ‘Trilogy’, the Doorway to a Series

“Corners and doorways… It’s always corners and doorways.” – Miller, Abaddon’s Gate

This is the third book of an excellent space opera science fiction series. While I did not enjoy it quite as much as those that came before, it was still a very well written and entertaining read, and sets up a future for the series, and the “franchise” that it has become, with a lot of promise.

I am a little unsure how to proceed with a review of this book without spoiling any of the cool premise of the previous books. Even what is printed on the book backs and the published book blurbs seem a little “spoilerly” to me. While I will strive not to deliver anything that will spoil the reading of this specific book, if you have NOT read the previous two novels in the series I strongly recommend you check out my review of Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War and then read those books first, before proceeding with this review.
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Review: Caliban’s War

Caliban's War coverCaliban’s War by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse series #2
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 26, 2012
Read from: January 26 to February 2, 2015

This Week on “As the Protomolecule Turns… “

The Space Opera that is “The Expanse” just keeps getting better.

Book Blurb

For someone who didn’t intend to wreck the solar system’s fragile balance of power, Jim Holden did a pretty good job of it. When a single super-soldier begins slaughtering soldiers of Earth and Mars, the race is on to discover whether this is the vanguard of an alien army, or if the danger lies closer to home.

Caliban’s War is the second book of the Expanse series that started with Leviathan Wakes. The series, written by James S.A. Corey – a pen name for the collaboration of Albuquerque, New Mexico authors Ty Franck & Daniel Abraham, has garnered a lot of attention. There is a SyFy television series coming out soon based on the books. Having enjoyed the first novel so much, it was long over due for me to read the sequels. Read My Full Review →